1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, apparatuses, and high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) systems for generating ultrasound that forms multi-foci in a region of interest.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the technological advancements in medical areas, techniques for the local treatment of tumors have been developed from minimal-invasive surgery to non-invasive surgery. An example of a recently developed non-invasive surgery method is a high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment method which is widely used as it is harmless to the human body. In a HIFU treatment method, high intensity ultrasound is focused and irradiated on a lesion inside a human body to necrose a lesion tissue. The focused ultrasound that is irradiated on the lesion is converted into thermal energy to increase a temperature of the irradiated portion so as to cause coagulative necrosis in the lesion tissue and blood vessels therein. As the temperature of the lesion onto which the ultrasound is irradiated increases instantaneously, just the irradiated lesion may be effectively removed while preventing diffusion of heat to peripheral portions adjacent to the irradiated lesion.
A HIFU treatment device includes a transducer (or an ultrasound treatment probe) that converts an electrical signal to ultrasound. A position where an ultrasound focus is to be formed may be controlled by adjusting a particle velocity of the transducer. Recently, a method of simultaneously forming a plurality of foci (i.e., multi-foci) by using a transducer including a plurality of elements (or ultrasound treatment probes) has been developed. The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form any part of the prior art.